The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses and Historians.

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 400 pages
• Published by: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers September 17, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1579127479
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1579127473
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Weighs: 1.9 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. More than sixty years since WWII was ended by two atomic detonations, the Manhattan Project that made them possible still carries iconic weight, both as an incredible achievement of science and engineering and as the opening salvo in the nuclear arms race. This collection of essays, including excerpts from 45 books and almost twice as many articles, is more than worthy of its subject. The basic science behind the project is detailed in a number of lively accounts by scientists who worked on it; they also recount the lighter side of the experience, including the characters they worked alongside and the camaraderie among them. In-depth analysis of policy and ethical issues take on the justification for Truman's decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki (with fine examples from both sides of the argument) and the still-urgent need for global arms control (as argued in a 2007 Wall Street Journal article by Henry Kissinger et al). With a comprehensive reach (going as far back as 1934 to find a charming story on Oppenheimer, "The Absentminded Professor"), Kelly, president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation and an experienced editor (Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project) does a masterful job covering all aspects of the world-changing enterprise and its legacy.
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Product Review
"I was enthralled by these vivid and compelling accounts of personalities and events at Los Alamos and elsewhere that produced the Bomb, ended a World War, and transformed our lives forever."–Bruce Babbitt, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona

"A remarkable collection of stories that vividly conveys the great drama surrounding the development of the atomic bomb.All the more compelling—and horrifying—placed in the full context of the scientific, military and moral questions they faced. –Jennet Conant, author of Tuxedo Park and 109 East Palace

The Manhattan Project resulted in the development and detonation of the first nuclear weapons—and changed the world forever. This authoritative book provides a vivid history of the Project and its legacy, told for the first time by the key players and observers.

Born out of a small research program begun in 1939, the Manhattan Project eventually employed more than 130,000 people, including our foremost scientists and thinkers, and cost nearly $2 billion—and it was operated under a shroud of absolute secrecy. This groundbreaking collection of documents, essays, articles, and excerpts from histories, biographies, plays, novels, letters, and the oral histories of key eyewitnesses is the freshest, most exhaustive exploration yet of the topic.

Compiled by experts at the Atomic Heritage Foundation, the book features first-hand material by Albert Einstein, Leslie Groves, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Niels Bohr, Henry Stimson, and many others. Excerpts from literary, historic, and biographical works come from (among others) H.G. Wells, Joseph Kanon, Jennet Conant, Andrew Brown, Kai Bird, Michael Frayn, Robert Norris, and of course the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes, who also provides an informative introduction.

Dozens of photographs depict key moments and significant figures, and concise explanatory material accompanies each selection. The Project's aftermath and legacy are covered as well.

Reader Reviews
One of the things we want history books to do for us is to give us insight into a world now gone. As we look back on puzzles solved, technologies developed, hardware built--it's hard to recreate the mood when all these challenges lay ahead, and the future was far from certain. How did the people involved view the strange new technology they were creating? This book brings us in their own words, their hopes, their doubts, their fears, their triumphs. This is not a new approach. Many history books are collections of documents wherein key players describe events or ponder their significance. But Cindy Kelly brings creativity and a deep knowledge of the history and its players, to combine little-known letters and papers with current interviews and brief contemporary notes, to give variety, sparkle and intimacy to this very human story of vast and earth-shaking developments that require our understanding in order to deal intelligently with current events. We watch, fascinated, as these scientists and engineers work to change the world, while the new world they are creating inexorably changes them. This book is a unique, factual historical document and, at the same time, a delightfully personal story. A perfect Christmas present. Comment | | (Report this)